Figure-skating tips and clips

Here are some tips and clips of various basic figure-skating moves. The
page has two purposes: to explain these moves and to give people who may
be thinking of purchasing a pair of PIC skates an idea of what you can
do with them. PIC skates can be purchased from here. They are inline skates shaped like
figure skates and with a toe pick at the front so that they do behave
fairly much like figure skates on ice. However I can't skate in them
nearly as well as on ice. Also bear in mind that you do need a smooth and
large surface - you may notice from some of the clips that I'm
handicapped by having to avoid parked cars and manhole covers.
I have written a little more about them on my skating page.

The clips below are in Windows Media Video format. Some of them are a few megabytes so they may
take a while to appear. If you have trouble seeing them you can try right-clicking on the
link and then download the wmv file to disk and play it in Windows Media Player.
If you're interested in seeing a few of them, the best thing may be just to download
this zip file (77 megabytes)
which
contains this HTML file and all the clips. Then you can just unzip it on your own PC
and view them as often as you like.

I'm afraid many of the moves are pretty sloppily
performed and/or wildly cheated.
I was still getting used
to the PIC skates. Some of the ones on ice are a bit better, but not much.

Most of the ones on ice were filmed at
Lee Valley ice rink
, IMHO the best ice rink in London
aside from Broadgate, which is only open in the winter.
Thanks to Jake Curtis for help with the editing.

I do these moves clockwise and counter-clockwise (CW and CCW) whereas
most people only jump and spin one way, so apologies if the clips are
inconsistent with regard to this. The diagrams are all for the CW moves. They're
supposed to just give the general idea, rather than necessarily being geometrically
accurate.

Edges

Standing on the inside edge tends to make you go a circle inwards,
across the body, i.e. a RI (right inside) edge curves you to the left.
An outside edge takes you on a curve out, so RO edge curves you to the right.
Edges are backwards (B) or forwards (F).

Mohawks

The easiest mohawk is from a FI edge of one foot to a BI edge on the
other.

When doing a mohawk, do not think that the skates need to be in line
with each other. The mohawk is carried out on a curve and the skate
being put down backwards can be at about 90 degrees to the one which was
going forwards.

Three-turns

These change from forward to backwards (or backwards to forwards)
on one foot, changing edge at the
same time. Again, don't forget they are performed on a curve, not a
straight line. Here is the tracing for a right forward outside (RFO) 3-turn.

This clip shows a RFO3.
Enter on RFO, lift onto toes a little as you turn and exit on RBI.

Here is a clip of
the CW version: start back on LBO, push onto RFO, jump and land on LBO.
As with all jumps, one should take off from and land on the toe pick and
one should keep one's shoulders vertically over one's hips throughout
the preparation and the jump. Aim to jump "out of the circle", so that
for the CW jump one aims to put one's L foot down forward and to the
left of the take-off foot, not directly in front of it. Try to swing the
leg through and up rather than round the side.

Here
is the same jump on ice. Unfortunately, I do seem to swing the leg round to the side.
Oh well.

Here is a clip of the CCW version. As for the 3-jump,
start on RBO then push onto LFO but go straight into LFO3. As you
do this, you should try not to open your hips but should end up in a
position called "back line" whereby your shoulders and hips both point
straight forwards, although the free leg curves back and the arm on the
same side is held back. (I'm afraid I don't do this properly in the
clip.) Then swing the free leg across and jump. Do not aim to jump
behind you - just aim to jump to the side. Try to go up over the toe
pick as you jump.

3 jump - loop jump combination

Here is the CCW version. The 3 jump should be small,
and under-rotated and should aim to land out of the circle. Then the additional
rotation on the ground can give you the preparation for the loop jump.

Here is a clip of the CCW version. Start
forward on LFI
with R arm held out in front, L arm to side. Then bring R foot in front
and exchange position of arms. Then do a very flat RFI to LBI mohawk and
try to hit the back line position as described for the salchow, keeping
the R leg extended out behind. Then bend the L knee and plant the R toe
pick, allow the R leg to bend as you run onto it and then jump up to the
left - again just aim to jump to the side rather than trying to jump all
the way round to behind. Land on RBO.

Here it is on ice. Again, the picking leg should be extended
straight back, not bent like mine is.

There is a better preparation which makes it easier to do the jump
properly, but it takes more space and involves a long backward glide
without looking over one's shoulder - so it is hard to do in public
rinks, roads or parks where there are people around. For the CW version
begin with a RFI-LBI mohawk, then do two backward crossovers and then
stand up straight on the RBO with both feet together. Put the R arm out
in front and the L to the side. Then bring the free L foot to just in front
of the R, then to just behind, then stretch it out behind as you check
the L arm back. Pick in, run on to near the pick and jump into the
circle as you bring your arms up and to the right in front of you.

Axel

Off from FO edge, round 1.5 times in air, land on BO edge of other foot. When it's done
properly, the tracing is similar to that for a 3 jump.

Can't really do this yet, but here is my attempt is
the CCW version. Sorry it's so shockingly under-rotated. The tracing for this
one would probably look more like this:

There is a different preparation for the axel which I was told makes it
easier to learn, and I think it does. However it does need a lot of
space. The tracing is as follows:

Push directly forwards on a RFO with hands out to the sides to make a semicircle. Half way
round bring the L foot in front of the R. Then bring the hands
together in front and push forwards onto a LFO semicircle.
Again, half way round bring the R foot in front. Finally
push again onto RFO, directly forwards as before, as the arms come down and back,
then swing arms and free leg up in front and do the jump. This
preparation is supposed to give the timing and perhaps helps one bring
the free leg through and up rather than round the side. When starting,
just jump up and then land with both feet together, first doing half
rotations and later full rotations.

Here you can see the attempt on ice using this preparation.
Still nowhere near though. (Sigh.)

Again, I'm afraid I can't do these properly on PIC skates yet, though I gather
it is possible. Here is a small CW spin. The initial circle
one pushes into should be very small - just a few feet in diameter. This is accomplished
by having the knee strongly bent and by leaning into the circle - try not to lean forward.
Then the arms and upper body rotate into the spin right from the start as one pushes
round the circle, but the leg should be left behind until the 3-turn happens. When it does,
swing the leg around and in front, then bring in the foot and then hands. That's the
theory anyway. To finish, push off on the BO edge of the free foot.

The conventional entry is to begin on the BI edge of the other foot,
probably from an FO3 turn, and then push onto the FO edge from that. You
can see that here on ice.